Not all warm up exercises are the same, stretching or general movement doesn't cut it in the 21st century anymore. Does stretching a muscle out reduce the chance of you or your kid rolling his or her ankle?
We all know that injuries reduce quality of life, cause pain, distress, affects mood, impacts family, friends and the broader community.
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During sport the body is subject to increased forces that are often unpredictable. Self-inflicted injuries such as ankle sprains and knee sprains are very common. Both these areas, depending on the structures involved such as ligaments, and the severity could take between 4-12 weeks to heal. Depending on the severity, return to sport could also take 4-26 weeks. Along the way there are muscles which shrink on the injured side, alongside impaired balance and proprioception. So there are always consequences from injury, your body may not get back to it's usual self. Not to mention acute pain becoming chronic within 3 months, if not managed well.
Failure to address these issues will always have spillover effects and lead to re-injury, of varying degrees.
The saving grace for kids is that they recover slightly quicker, however a little guidance goes a long way especially with their whole life ahead of them. Adults tend to recover slower, this worsens with age given the body is no longer growing.
The other good news is that a lot of research has been conducted in the last 20years looking at prevention of injury.
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The current evidence base significantly leans towards having specific warm up programs as a way to prevent injury, prior to playing sport. Specific exercise targeting balance, strength, proprioception, cutting and pivoting reduced the risk of injury the most. They have been shown to be better than just general warm ups and stretching.
Strengthening and proprioception exercises were demonstrated to be effective in reducing the risk of acute injury by a third and overuse injuries by half.
So there you have it, be specific with your training and needs. Stretching alone will not prevent you from rolling your ankle or knee. Incorporate a whole recovery program in, then will you be able to stay on the field longer and run the whole sporting season.
Frontline Family Physio is here to guide and support your recovery.
Sean Hua
Director and Physiotherapist
Frontline Family Physio
Shop 6/2a Brown St Ashfield
References:
HÜBSCHER, M., ZECH, A., PFEIFER, K., HÄNSEL, F., VOGT, L., & BANZER, W. (2010). Neuromuscular Training for Sports Injury Prevention. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 42(3), 413–421. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e3181b88d37
Lauersen, J. B., Bertelsen, D. M., & Andersen, L. B. (2014). The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(11), 871–877. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2013-092538
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